Mikhail Sol was born on July 21, 1991, in Vladivostok, a remote city in eastern Russia, to a policeman and a saleswoman. When he was five, his father joined a religious sect and left the family. This fact eventually influenced Mikhail's work and the subject matter of his paintings. Because of his mother's new family, he had to live in a small room of 6 square meters and distance himself from them. For almost 15 years, he lived with these people as a stranger. He never communicated with his stepfather and had problems with his peers at school, so the only solution he found was to create his own world in which he could feel comfortable. This is how he discovered philosophy and poetry, and then painting and classical music. At 15, he began to think about how to express himself and leave a mark on history? Mikhail chose painting because it corresponds to his perception of the world. His formation as a serious artist began after graduating from a children's art school. His love for painting turned into a profession. At the age of 15, he created his first linocut inspired by Goya's "Caprichos" series. In 2008, he entered the Vladivostok Art College and became a teacher of fine arts. After that, in 2014, he entered the painting department of the Ilya Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Moving across the country was a difficult decision for him. How could he replace the Pacific Ocean and the salty air of Vladivostok with the gray, cloudy sky of St. Petersburg? However, the thirst for art won out. The Academy of Arts opened a new world and access to knowledge about art for him. Mikhail managed to study in several workshops there: with K.V. Grachev (2014-2015), Professor I.G. Uralov (2015-2016), an easel workshop under the guidance of Professor Yu.V. Kalyuta (2016-2018), and another professor and head of the painting department - V.S. Pesikov (2018-2021). In 2015, he took part in plein airs in the Pushkin Hills. He also made a creative trip to the Crimea, as a result of which an exhibition was organized in the A.I. Kuindzhi apartment museum located in the city of Alupka. Mikhail is a regular participant in various exhibitions and plein airs. At the beginning of his artistic career, Mikhail was not looking for any special plastic language, but studied the painting techniques of the old masters. His priority was to show materiality and three-dimensional space. But the more his skills improved, the more he began to think about the thoughts and feelings he wanted to express. In search of a topic that would allow him to reveal his full creative potential, Mikhail studied historical, religious, mythological subjects, and pressing social issues. Now he is trying to use the centuries-old experience of painting technique to show the power of realism and the depth of eternal philosophical thought. Mikhail's paintings are kept in the collections of the Academy of Arts and the Mikhailovskoye Museum-Reserve, as well as in private collections in Russia, Canada, China and Germany. Currently lives and works in St. Petersburg, Russia. 2021 — Imperial Academy of Arts Exhibitions: 2023 — "Love. Death. Virgin", Artefice, St. Petersburg 2021 — Joining the Union of Artists, St. Petersburg.

2021 — Imperial Academy of Art

Expositions:

2023 — “Love. Death. Virgo”, Artefice, Saint-Petersburg

2021 — Joining the Union of Artists, St. Petersburg

Solovev Mikhail